Department for Transport

Driving Licences: Foreign Nationals

Lord Wills: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the efficiency savings that could be achieved from a DVLA database ofregistered non-GB driving licences which could be accessed by employers.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency does not hold details of all non-GB driving licence holders and there are no plans for such a database to be created.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Insulation: Finance

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing financial assistance to encourage home insulation; and what assessment they have made of the impact of such policies in other jurisdictions.

Lord Callanan: The Government is investing £6.6 billion over this Parliament in decarbonising heat and energy efficiency. The Energy Company Obligation Scheme, running until 2026 is valued at £4 billion. ECO+ has also been announced, with the scheme worth £1 billion per annum to run from Spring 2023 until 2026. The Autumn Statement announced a new ambition to reduce energy consumption from buildings and industry to 15% by 2030. A new Energy Efficiency Taskforce will be established supporting this. £6 billion of additional funding will also be available from 2025 to 2028. The Government routinely considers schemes in other jurisdictions in its policy development process.

Carbon Capture and Storage

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking tosupport the development of carbon capture technology.

Lord Callanan: Between 2004 and 2021 the UK Government has invested over £346 million into CCUS Research, Development and Deployment (RD&D). This funding has ensured the UK remains at the forefront of CCUS Research and Innovation. Developing the skills, knowledge, and technology to allow the UK to deploy CCUS domestically and export it expertise around the world. In 2020 the UK Government confirmed Advanced CCUS and Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) innovation would be two of the ten priority areas of the £1 billion BEIS Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP, 2021-2025).

Drugs: Trade

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the report by the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership Fulfilling the potential identified in the Government's Life Sciences Vision, published on 24 January, what assessment they have made of its findings that since 2010, the UK has fallen from 4th to 98th place in overall trade balance in pharmaceuticals.

Lord Callanan: Life Sciences pharmaceutical manufacturing was responsible for $27.7bn exports in 2021. Official statistics from the Office for Life Sciences show that employment in core biopharmaceutical manufacturing employment declined between 2009 and 2019, but increased by 5% between 2019 and 2021. The Life Sciences Vision sets out an ambition to create a globally competitive environment for Life Science manufacturing investments. To help meet these ambitions, the Government launched the £60m Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund in March 2022 to incentivise globally mobile manufacturing investments in the UK.

Tourism

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps theyare taking to support businesses in the outbound travel industry in rebuilding their customer base in 2023.

Lord Callanan: Businesses in the outbound travel industry can access support through the Recovery Loan Scheme which helps smaller businesses access loans and other kinds of finance up to £2 million per business group so they can grow and invest. The finance can be used for any business purpose, including growth and investment, or working capital. Furthermore, At the Autumn Statement, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £13.6 billion of support for businesses over the next five years, reducing the burden of business rates for SMEs. This includes freezing the business rates multiplier for another year to protect businesses from rising inflation, worth £9.3 billion over the next 5 years.The Government’s ‘Help to Grow: Management’ scheme is helping small and medium sized (SME) businesses across the UK learn new skills, reach more customers and boost profits.All businesses can access support through 38 Growth Hubs across England providing businesses across England with free one-to-one support and advice.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: EU Law

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government which retained EU laws the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is planning to reform or revoke in the event of a passage into law of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.

Lord Callanan: Individual departments are currently in the process of assessing all their REUL and developing proposals for whether they intend to revoke or reform each piece of legislation, or preserve it from the sunset.Once this process is complete, Government will announce its intention for the areas where it will focus on reform, where it will repeal or allow REUL to sunset, and where it will seek to retain the status quo. We will be ambitious but mindful of ensuring that businesses and stakeholders are engaged and consulted in the usual way on policy changes, whilst upholding commitments already given at the despatch box.

Minerals

Lord Wasserman: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure a secure and sustainable supply of critical minerals for the UK economy; and whether such a plan will be published.

Lord Callanan: In July 2022, the Government published its first ever Critical Minerals Strategy, setting out our approach to improving the resilience of critical mineral supply chains. It will safeguard UK industry, support the energy transition and protect our national security. The strategy sets out how the Government will accelerate our domestic capabilities, collaborate with international partners and enhance international markets. The Government are planning to publish a Critical Minerals Refresh in Spring 2023 to reinforce the strategy, highlight its progress, and set out upcoming delivery milestones.

Minerals: Recycling

Lord Wasserman: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of the UK's supply of critical minerals in the next 10 years that will be met by recycling.

Lord Callanan: The Critical Minerals Strategy seeks to promote a circular economy of critical minerals in the UK. Recycling rates vary significantly for different minerals. In the case of minerals for electrical vehicle batteries, end-of-life recycling is expected to provide less than 1% of UK demand in 2030. The opportunity improves by 2040: recycling is expected to account for 10-20% of battery mineral demand for electrical vehicles. To promote recycling and recovery, the Government is funding the £30 million National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) Programme, including a centre on technology metals. Defra expects to consult on regulations for electrical waste in 2023 and subsequently for end-of-life batteries.

Electric Vehicles: Batteries

Lord Wasserman: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to Britishvolt entering into administration, what steps they are taking to ensure the secure and sustainable supply of electric vehicle batteries to British manufacturers.

Lord Callanan: The Government remains committed to Levelling Up and is actively engaging with companies to secure investments that will ensure the UK remains a world leader in automotive manufacturing. We continue to work through the Automotive Transition Fund (ATF) to progress plans to build a globally competitive electric vehicle supply chain in the UK, which includes unlocking private investment in gigafactories, battery material supply chains, motors, power electronics, and fuel cell systems. We have invested record sums in battery R&D – last October we announced a record £211 million uplift for the Faraday Battery Challenge, which brought the overall budget of this ambitious programme to £541 million. We recently awarded £27.6 million from this funding to 17 UK projects to support innovation in EV battery technology.

Heating: Rural Areas

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what stepsthey are taking to support rural households in the transition to net zero heating.

Lord Callanan: We are bringing forward a range of policies to help rural households decarbonise their heating. These include schemes such as the £450 million Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which provides grants of up to £6,000 towards the installation of heat pumps and biomass boilers, and the £1.1bn Home Upgrade Grant, which supports lower income households off the gas grid in England to upgrade their energy efficiency and transition to low carbon heating. We are also taking further action to help develop the heat pump market, such as the planned market-based mechanism for low carbon heat. This will provide industry with the policy incentive and confidence to invest in ways to make heat pumps a more attractive and simpler choice for UK households.

Department of Health and Social Care

Cancer: Health Services

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that less survivable cancers, such as gastric cancer, are adequately represented in their proposed major conditions strategy.

Lord Markham: The Major Conditions Strategy will draw on previous work on cancer, including the submissions, over 5,000, provided to the Department as part of our Call for Evidence last year.  Many of those submissions will have included feedback on less survivable cancers.

Coronavirus: Medical Treatments

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government how they will (1) assess, and (2) report on, the effectiveness of COVID-19 Medicine Delivery Units (CMDUs) in providing treatments for COVID-19 to vulnerable patients; and whether they have any plans (a) to disband CMDUs and devolve this responsibility to a primary care model, or (b) implement any other change of process.

Lord Markham: NHS England regularly meets with patient groups and charities, such as Blood Cancer UK, to hear feedback on the experience of individuals who have sought and/or received treatment via a COVID-19 Medicine Delivery Unit (CMDU), and with representatives of the care home sector to identify ways to facilitate timely contact and clinical assessment for potentially eligible individuals in their care. Publications reporting on treatment via CMDUs are available in an online-only format on the National Health Service website.In the future, access to COVID-19 treatments will be determined by the guidance of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which is currently undertaking a multiple technology appraisal covering a range of potential COVID-19 treatments. Once its final determination has been made and published, setting out which COVID-19 treatments should be made routinely available by the NHS, it will be for local integrated care boards to determine access pathways for these medicines within their local communities. The expectation is for treatment to be deployed through more routine access routes, including through GPs and other forms of primary care.

Integrated Care Boards: Pay

Lord Scriven: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have approved any individual pay and remuneration package for a Chief Executive of an Integrated Care Board (ICB), in line with public pay and terms guidance; and if so, for which ICBs and for how much in each case.

Lord Markham: The Government has approved salaries for Chief Executives at Humber Coast and Vale, South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw and Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICBs.Owing to data protection reasons, individual salaries cannot be disclosed without the individuals being notified of the intention to disclose this information. Salary levels will feature in the ICBs’ annual reports.

Health Services: Weather

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of current winter pressures on the NHS; and what plans they have, if any, to implementearly emergency protocols to prevent similar pressures next winter.

Lord Markham: As with previous winters, the National Health Service (NHS) is experiencing increased demand on emergency care, including demand from COVID-19 and seasonal respiratory diseases, driving high rates of hospital bed occupancy.The Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services published on 30 January sets out a range of actions to recover emergency care performance ahead of next winter, including through the delivering of 800 new ambulances (including 100 specialist mental health vehicles), 5,000 additional hospital beds adding to the permanent bed base for next winter, scaling up innovative virtual wards to support 50,000 patients a month, and expanding community services including falls, frailty and community response teams to better support vulnerable people and reduce unnecessary hospital trips.

Coronavirus: Immunosuppression

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that future new treatments for COVID-19 for clinically vulnerable people are (1) evaluated, and (2) delivered, along the same timeline as vaccines; and which body will be responsible for that process once Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approval is granted.

Lord Markham: Any vaccine for deployment in the United Kingdom must first go through rigorous testing and development processes to ensure they work effectively and are safe to use. These are set by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and have separate stages and timelines from the process for evaluating COVID-19 treatments.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will make recommendations on the clinical and cost effectiveness of future licensed treatments through the established technology appraisal process. The National Health Service is legally required to fund treatments recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.

Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access

Lord Warner: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of changes to the rebate in the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access, and to the accompanying Statutory Scheme, on (1) foreign direct investment into the UK Research and Development, (2) employment levels in the life sciences industry in the UK, and (3) medicines launches in the UK.

Lord Markham: An impact assessment was published in December 2022 as part of the consultation on the impact of changes to the statutory scheme for branded medicines. The Department has received materials from pharmaceutical industry Trade Associations and from individual companies about a wide range of issues relevant to both the voluntary and statutory schemes for branded medicines pricing. We will be considering this evidence over the coming weeks and will publish our response alongside the final impact assessment.

Drugs: Prices

Lord Warner: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the mechanisms for pricing schemes for innovative medicines in the UK, and those in comparative countries such as (1) Germany, (2) Spain, and (3) Ireland.

Lord Markham: No assessment has been made.The Government is open to ideas about how a successor to Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access should operate from 2024 onwards and will work with industry and apply learning from approaches in the United Kingdom and internationally to agree a mutually beneficial successor that that supports better patient outcomes; ensures the sustainability of National Health Service spend on branded medicines; and enables a strong UK life sciences industry.

Bowel Cancer

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what stepsthey are taking to reduce levels of bowel cancer in England.

Lord Markham: NHS England are extending the age of the eligible cohort for bowel cancer screening in line with the National Health Service Long Term Plan commitment and the UK National Screening Committee’s recommendations approved by ministers. This will allow for the early detection and treatment of cancer or polyps that could develop into cancer.Additionally, the Government aims to reduce obesity rates, which increase people’s risk of developing bowel cancer. We have introduced new regulations on out-of-home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses, which came into force in April 2022. Further regulations restricting the location of products high in fat, salt, or sugar in key selling locations in store and online came into force on 1 October 2022.

NHS: Drugs

Lord Warner: To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to the impact assessment for the Statutory Scheme for controlling the costs of branded health service medicines, which states that the proposed rebates pose a remote risk to the supply of medicines to the NHS.

Lord Markham: The impact assessment published in December 2022 on the impact of proposed changes to payment percentages in the statutory scheme for branded medicines pricing considered matters relevant to the risk to the supply of medicines of any changes.We have little evidence to suggest that, given the available mitigations, changes to volume-based payment rates will lead to supply issues.We work closely with suppliers, NHS England, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the devolved Governments and other stakeholders to ensure patients continue to have access to the treatments they need.

Coronavirus: Medical Treatments

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Markham on 7 November 2022 (HL2600), how they can assure accountability in decision-making in relation to the RAPID C-19 independent advisory meetings if there are no minutes and attendee lists available.

Lord Markham: RAPID C-19 is a multi-agency initiative which includes representatives from the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, NHS England and the devolved administrations. RAPID C-19 consists of scientific experts, including clinicians, pharmacists, evidence assessors and researchers, who provide independent clinical advice to the Chief Medical Officer for England. RAPID C-19’s expertise is related to the organisations represented, which include the main healthcare agencies involved in decisions on research, regulation, and introducing new treatments into the National Health Service. A list of the membership of the RAPID C-19 is available on the NICE website. The operation of RAPID C-19 was also governed by terms of reference, which included a requirement for the group to be quorate and for members to declare interests. Appropriate action and decision logs were maintained for all RAPID C-19 discussions. RAPID C-19's role was to provide advice on the strength of the signals of effectiveness from emerging evidence on potential treatments to the appropriate decision makers. The RAPID C-19 Oversight Group’s report: review of Evusheld was published on 6 October in an online only format. It concluded that the quality of data is insufficient to progress to patient access before the completion of NICE’s technology appraisal, which will determine the drug’s clinical and cost-effectiveness. The Department does not hold the minutes or a list of attendees from the meetings in which this decision was made, as RAPID C-19 is an independent advisory group.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Baroness Morrissey: To ask His Majesty's Government why the overall vaccine coverage in the women giving birth data included in theCOVID-19 vaccine surveillance reporthas not been updated since June 2022; and when they will publish the data from July 2022 onwards.

Lord Markham: The COVID-19 vaccine coverage of women giving birth in England was last updated in the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report published in October 2022 and included women giving birth to the end of June 2022. Pregnant women were prioritised as part of the Autumn boost with data becoming available in 2023. It is therefore planned to update coverage data in the March 2023 UKHSA COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report which will include data on women who delivered to the end of October 2022.

Life Sciences and Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access

Lord Warner: To ask His Majesty's Government what evidence they have received from industry of the impending impact on UK Research and Development investment of rising payment rates under the voluntary and statutory schemes for branded medicines.

Lord Markham: The Department has received materials from pharmaceutical industry Trade Associations and from individual companies about the impact of payment percentages under the voluntary and statutory schemes. These include responses to the assessment made by the Department in the draft impact assessment that accompanies our recent consultation on increased rates in the statutory scheme. We will be considering this evidence over the coming weeks and will publish our response alongside the final impact assessment.

Public Health: Finance

Lord Porter of Spalding: To ask His Majesty's Government when they will inform local authorities of theirprovisional public health grant budgets for 2023–24.

Lord Markham: We will announce the 2023/24 Public Health Grant allocations to local authorities shortly.

Prescription Drugs

Lord Rogan: To ask His Majesty's Government how many prescriptions were issued and filled by the NHS in each of the past five years; and what estimate they have made of the average gross profit margin for the pharmacist on each prescription.

Lord Markham: The table below shows the total number of items dispensed in the community in England in each of the last five financial years broken down by English dispenser account type. Dispenser Account Type2017/20182018/20192019/20202020/20212021/2022English Appliance Contractor8,627,9109,043,6379,787,03510,020,14110,908,020English Dispensing Doctor69,672,68570,368,21572,024,65670,530,05772,082,457English Personal Administration14,829,10414,606,24914,468,18913,180,27313,231,305English Pharmacy Contractor1,013,292,4031,015,065,2051,035,763,8551,016,856,7631,043,054,789Total1,106,422,1021,109,083,3061,132,043,7351,110,587,2341,139,276,571 Source: NHS Business Services Authority The table below shows the average medicine margin retained per item for English pharmacy contractors for the five financial years (2017/18 – 2021/22). Medicine margin being the difference between what the pharmacy pays for a medicine and what they are reimbursed by the National Health Service. These figures do not include any fees for service provision by the pharmacy paid by the NHS. Where it was measured that pharmacy contractors retained margin above or below the contractually agreed level, an adjustment would have been made through changes to Category M (part VIII of the Drug Tariff) reimbursement prices. England only   Average margin per item (£)Prescription items (m)2017/18£0.7910132018/19£0.6210152019/20£0.7210362020/21£0.9610172021/22£0.891043 Source: Department of Health and Social Care

Food: Nitrites

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to research by Queen's University Belfast ‘Dietary inclusion of nitrite-containing frankfurter exacerbates colorectal cancer pathology and alters metabolism in APCmin mice’, published in Nature on 28 December 2022, which found that the mean tumour count for mice fed a diet of processed meat containing nitrites "was 75% higher than the mean tumour count of the control group", what plans they have, if any, to introduce legislation concerning the use of nitrites in food production.

Lord Markham: The use of Nitrates and Nitrites as food additives is regulated under retained European Union legislation and existing regulatory controls on their use is sufficiently protective of consumers. These additives are important preservatives, protecting consumers by hindering the growth of harmful organisms including Clostridium botulinum, which is responsible for botulism, a very serious foodborne disease. The legislation sets out the acceptable conditions of use, the foods in which they may be used and where necessary, maximum permitted levels. Legislation also states that the level of use shall be set at the lowest level necessary to achieve the desired effect. The United Kingdom Government are not currently proposing to make any changes to existing controls following the publication of this research.

Coronavirus: Medical Treatments

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the creation by NHS England of a national expert working group (EWG), why it has only met twice; and whether it still has an active role in supporting the development of a national clinical policy.

Lord Markham: As part of pandemic-specific arrangements, NHS England was asked to utilise its national clinical policy making expertise to lead on the development of United Kingdom-wide clinical access policy drafts enabling access to evidence-based COVID treatments. These draft policies are then considered and approved by the UK Chief Medical Officers ahead of publication, to guide the decisions of treating clinicians, and supporting medicines supply arrangements. NHS England has been supported in this role by a range of clinical and academic experts, including representatives from the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, who meet as part of Expert Working Group arrangements. There is not a standing or single expert working group but rather a series of clinical policy-specific expert working groups that have been established and that meet, as required, with clinical expertise specific to the medicine or medicines being considered. For example, an expert working group was established specific to Evusheld as pre-exposure prophylaxis, which met twice. Through this expert working group approach, clinicians and academics have provided advice which has helped clinical policy makers to better understand the supporting clinical trial information, to identify any important contraindications or drug to drug interactions that need to be considered, and to understand how best to place a potential new medicine option alongside current treatment choices. This has provided NHS England with both clinical subject matter and specialty expertise and a valuable ‘front line’ perspective in developing access policy proposals.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Dahua Technology and Hikvision

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the Chinese surveillance companies (1) Dahua, and (2) Hikvision; what assessment they have made of any links between those companies and human rights abuses in the Xinjiang province; and what assessment they have made of whether they constitute a security threat to the UK.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK takes its national security extremely seriously. On 24 November 2022, the Government announced that Departments should cease deployment of visual surveillance systems produced by companies subject to China's National Intelligence Law onto sensitive sites. The Government has also consistently led international efforts to hold China to account for its human rights violations, including the use of invasive surveillance to target Uyghurs and other minorities. On 31 October, we supported a joint statement at the UN Third Committee alongside 49 other countries that specifically called out China's systematic use of invasive surveillance on the basis of religion and ethnicity. We also consistently raise the situation in Xinjiang with the Chinese authorities at the highest levels. Most recently, the Foreign Secretary did so in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart on 20 September.

Nigeria: Religious Freedom

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) reports of the kidnapping of 53 Christians in Kaduna State Nigeria on Christmas Day, (2) the murder of Fr Isaac Azekpili Achi in Kafin Korothe on 15 January, and (3) the sentencing to 24 years imprisonment of Mubarak Bala, President of the Humanist Association of Nigeria; whether they have made representations to the government of Nigeria on these cases; and, if so, what response they received.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: We condemn all violence across Nigeria, including the recent kidnapping in Kaduna state and the murder of Fr. Isaac Achi in Niger state. Events such as these are occurring across Nigeria as conflict and insecurity rises. The Minister of State for Africa & Development recently discussed this challenge with some of Nigeria's leading presidential candidates and with the Governor of Kaduna. The UK is supporting Nigeria to tackle this issue, and fulfil its constitutional commitment to Freedom of Religion or Belief, by strengthening military capabilities, human rights compliance, policing, and anti-kidnap capacity through our UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership. The UK Government continues to raise Mr Bala's case with the Nigerian authorities, most recently with the Kano State Government on 19 January.

Ministry of Defence

Challenger Tanks: Exports

Earl Attlee: To ask His Majesty's Government, when the Challenger 3 tank is in service, whether they will be free to export, sell, loan or transfer these tanks to any government they should choose without the agreement of the government of Germany.

Baroness Goldie: Challenger 3 will be a highly capable Main Battle Tank with world-leading performance. In line with the Land Industrial Strategy, our ambition is for it to be in service in 2027 with the capability ready for transfer, loan, or export. We are closely working with partners, including Germany where certain Challenge 3 components will be made, in order to meet these ambitions. Any and all such sharing would be subject to the relevant law of intellectual property, national export regulations, and licence conditions that identify and control the end user, and reflect international arms controls and human rights legislation.

Challenger Tanks

Earl Attlee: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the primary purpose of the Challenger II Main Battle Tank’s hull and automotive systems is to transport the Challenger II turret, its associated systems and crew, around the battlefield with an optimised balance of protection and mobility.

Baroness Goldie: Yes. The Challenger 2 hull primarily provides survivability, the automotive components provide mobility, and the turret provides lethality. All three are balanced and work in harmony to deliver an effective capability.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Forests

Lord Foster of Bath: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the (1) loss annually since 2010, and (2) expected loss by 2030, of (a) woodland, and (b) ancient woodland.

Lord Benyon: The loss of woodland is published in Government statistics. These cover the period 2012-2020 and are available in Table 5 of Components of the net change in woodland area in England, 2012-13 to 2019-20 (Experimental Statistics).The Government is committed to protecting ancient woodlands. In 2016, the National Forest Inventory report “Preliminary estimates of the changes in canopy cover between 2006 and 2015” found that overall, in England the level of permanent ancient woodland loss to other land uses was 57 hectares or 0.02% between 2006-2015. PDFs are attached.The England Trees Action Plan (ETAP) published on 18 May 2021, sets out the Government’s future vision for England’s treescape. The Plan committed to updating the ancient woodland inventory to cover the whole of England. This project is now underway and includes mapping smaller ancient woodland sites of 0.25 hectares.In 2018, the protection of ancient woodlands, ancient trees and veteran trees was strengthened through the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), recognising them as irreplaceable habitats. The NPPF also outlines that any development resulting in the loss or deterioration of such irreplaceable habitats should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons and only if a suitable compensation strategy exists. In 2021, the Government committed to reviewing the NPPF with respect to ancient woodlands, consulting on strengthening the wording in the NPPF and introducing a new duty on planning authorities to consult the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities before granting permission for development affecting ancient woodlands.Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicator (pdf, 3500.7KB)Preliminary Estimates (pdf, 6096.1KB)

Otters: Conservation

Lord Patten: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the otter population in England is increasing or decreasing; and what steps they intend to take (1) to protect otter habitats, and (2) to reduce otter deaths on the road.

Lord Benyon: The latest National Survey for Otter in England (2009-2010) noted that the otter was increasing in most of England, with the possible exception of the very south-east where no signs were found in Kent and most of Sussex. Otters are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. They are also listed as a species of principal importance under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. Thirty-two sites have been notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest for their otter interest. There are five Special Areas of Conservation sites for the species and 10 further Special Areas of Conservation where otters are a qualifying feature but are not the primary reason for designation. Due to the level of legal protection afforded to the otter, any new road scheme which has the potential to impact on the species must provide mitigation or compensation measures to prevent road mortality. Mitigation measures include the provision of pipes under roads or otter ledges within culverts.

Agriculture: Innovation

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support farms to be at the cutting edge of innovation and technology.

Lord Benyon: In November 2021, Defra launched the Farming Investment Fund which to date has provided over £30 million worth of funding for farmers to invest in their businesses.In October 2021, Defra launched the £270 million Farming Innovation Programme that is enabling more farmers, growers, and agri-food businesses to become involved in agricultural and horticultural R&D.This will drive new innovation and accelerate the adoption of new technologies on farms and support farmers to run their own on- farm trials to test new technologies and demonstrate their value to other farmers.More than £83 million has been committed so far.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: EU Law

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government which retained EU laws the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is planning to reform or revoke in the event of a passage into law of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.

Lord Benyon: Defra will use the Retained EU Law Bill (REUL) to ensure our law is fit for purpose, better targeted to UK circumstances and able to drive improved environmental outcomes. Defra is in the process of analysing and assessing its REUL stock to determine what should be preserved as part of domestic law, and what should be repealed, or amended. This work will determine how we use the powers in the Bill in relation to specific retained EU laws.

Pigs: Livestock Industry

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of their review into contractual practice in the UK pig sector.

Lord Benyon: A public consultation was conducted between July and October 2022 which invited views from the pig industry about potential improvements to fairness and transparency. The consultation received a very positive level of engagement with responses from individuals and organisations across the supply chain. The Government will publish a Summary of Responses, outlining main findings and next steps, in the coming months. Any actions arising as a result of the consultation will be developed alongside industry with the close involvement of stakeholders.

Home Office

Police: Training

Lord Dear: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Sharpe of Epsom on 22 December 2022 (HL4321), why the leadership training of senior police officers is delivered by the College of Policing and no longer at the Police Staff College.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The College of Policing was established in 2012 as the professional body for policing, to set and improve standards for excellence, including recruitment, leadership, professional development and assessment. The College succeeded the organisations that had previously had responsibility for these functions, including the National Policing Improvement Agency, which had previously incorporated the Police Staff College.The College has prioritised improvements to leadership training as part of its National Centre for Police Leadership. This includes setting standards for all levels of leadership and providing a host of guidance, resources and training to support development for everyone in policing.  The College also supports the progression of officers for senior leadership roles through providing ongoing development and access to executive coaching and mentoring.

Police: Leadership

Lord Dear: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the quality of leadership in the police service, especially at senior ranks.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The Government has been clear that strong leadership at all ranks is essential to ensure a positive culture and rigorous standards in policing. Failures of integrity within policing impact on public confidence and recent revelations rightly raise questions about the quality and standards of leadership in the police. We will continue pushing for improvements in standards, expectations, and outcomes for policing, but the drive must also come from within forces.We have invested £3.35m from 2021 to 2023 for the College of Policing to create a National Leadership Centre. As part of this, the College is now in the process of setting and rolling out national leadership standards at key levels in the police service and providing leadership development programmes aligned to these standards.We also welcome the College’s proposals for fundamental change to the current system of chief officer selection and development, following a full independent review. These measures are currently being implemented and will increase transparency and open up access to senior level development.

Slavery

Lord Hylton: To ask His Majesty's Government what protection, if any, is provided to persons receiving a Conclusive Grounds Decision from the National Referrals Mechanism.

Lord Murray of Blidworth: We are committed to ensuring that the National Referral Mechanism effectively supports genuine victims to recover from their modern slavery experience and to support the prosecution of their exploiters. Following a positive Conclusive Grounds decision, if a victim is being supported by the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract, they will receive accommodation, financial support, and access to a support worker where necessary, until they no longer have a recovery need for this support, or until their recovery needs are met by alternative services. It is also a government priority to increase prosecutions of perpetrators of modern slavery. That is why we have made clear, for the first time in legislation, that where a public authority, such as the police, is pursuing an investigation or criminal proceedings, confirmed victims who are co-operating in this activity and need to remain in the UK in order to do so, will be granted temporary permission to stay if it is necessary for them to be in the UK to support the investigation.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Rented Housing

Lord Jackson of Peterborough: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support Build to Rent.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: We have supported the Build to Rent sector through the Build to Rent Fund and the PRS Guarantee Scheme. These interventions supported the delivery of almost 14,000 Build to Rent homes in total. Homes England are also an anchor investor in schemes such as the PRS Real Estate Investment Trust which has unlocked investment in a further 5,000 homes.We also revised the National Planning Policy Framework in 2018 and issued a new chapter of planning guidance to support the delivery of more Build to Rent homes, including affordable rental homes for years to come. We continue to regularly engage with the sector to understand any emerging issues and concerns.

Property: Investment Trusts

Lord Jackson of Peterborough: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review their policy on residential estate investment trusts as a means of encouraging further provision of new residential housing.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: This Government has supported the use of real estate investment trusts (REITs) to support investment in residential housing – and Homes England's aggregate investment of £30 million has helped leverage investment from private providers. PRS REIT remains operational and we are looking to expand its operations and delivery.

Rented Housing

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what(1) equality impact assessment, and (2) business and regulatory impact assessment, they have conducted in relation to the build-to-rent sector.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: Our main intervention in the Build to Rent sector has been the Build to Rent Fund, which was introduced in 2013-14. As part of this process, a full assessment of the economic and commercial case for intervention was undertaken. Changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, including referring explicitly to Build to Rent, were consulted on in 2017 and this consultation included a summary equalities statement which considered the impact of the completion of more Build to Rent and Affordable Market Rent homes. The assessment made was that an increase in Affordable Private Rent homes are not likely to have any negative impact on overall affordable housing provision, and that the greater availability of rented homes as a result of these policies, both at market rent and Affordable Private Rent, will improve housing outcomes for people living in rented housing, including people with protected characteristics, notwithstanding some level of reduction in the number of affordable homes to be delivered by Build to Rent schemes under other tenures.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Finance

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government which (1) organisations, and (2) individuals, they consulted prior to making their departmental funding allocations as outlined in the Northern Ireland Budget Bill.

Lord Caine: Northern Ireland Office ministers and officials have engaged with a variety of stakeholders, in UK Government Departments and Northern Ireland Executive Departments, and externally including the independent Northern Ireland Fiscal Council on the 2022-23 Northern Ireland Budget.Ministers have also met with political representatives to hear their views, and taken on board the many representations received in correspondence, meetings, and visits across Northern Ireland from the business community, the education and health sectors, third sector voluntary and community groups.

Treasury

Sheep Meat: Overseas Trade

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government how much lamb was(1) exported, and (2) imported, in the years (a) 2022, (b) 2021, (c) 2020, and (d) 2019.

Baroness Penn: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website. Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist you in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Global Tariff. Goods moving to and from the UK are identified by an eight-digit commodity code. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff. The quantity of lamb exported from and imported to the UK for 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019 is as follows Table 1: UK Exports of Lamb, January 2019 - November 2022Statistical Value (£)CN82019202020212022 (Jan to Nov)160290911,320,4331,150,9192,012,4072,372,809Grand Total1,320,4331,150,9192,012,4072,372,809Source: HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics  Table 2: UK Imports of Lamb, January 2019 - November 2022Statistical Value (£)CN82019202020212022 (Jan to Nov)160290916,854,8907,934,6482,247,93113,332,740Grand Total6,854,8907,934,6482,247,93113,332,740Source: HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics NotesData for 2019-2021 are for calendar years. Data for 2022 is aligned with the most recently published data, e.g. up to and including November 2022CN8 code is defined as:16029091: Prepared or preserved meat or offal of sheep (excl. sausages and similar products, finely homogenised preparations put up for retail sale as infant food or for dietetic purposes in containers of a net weight ofExport trade is defined as both EU and Non-EU exportsImport trade is defined as both EU and Non-EU imports2022 is an open year and is therefore provisional and is subject to change Further information can be found on the UK Trade Information website and on Gov.uk.

Pigmeat: Overseas Trade

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government how muchpork was (1) exported, and (2) imported, in the years (a) 2022, (b) 2021, (c) 2020, and (d) 2019.

Baroness Penn: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website. Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist you in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Global Tariff. Goods moving to and from the UK are identified by an eight-digit commodity code. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff. Pork falls within two commodity code chapter headings 0203 and 0210. The full commodity code would depend on the specific compounds of the pork. There could be additional commodity codes that have not been included, that could be considered as ‘pork’ depending upon the requestor’s specific definition. The amount of pork exported from and imported to the UK in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 is in the attached table and can be found on the UK Trade Information website [1] and on Gov.uk [2]. [1] UK Trade Info[2] UK Integrated Online Tariff: Look up commodity codes, duty and VAT rates - GOV.UK (trade-tariff.service.gov.uk)Table referred to in the answer (xlsx, 22.2KB)

Beef: Overseas Trade

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government how muchbeef was (1) exported, and (2) imported, in the years (a) 2022, (b) 2021, (c) 2020, and (d) 2019.

Baroness Penn: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website. Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist you in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Global Tariff. Goods moving to and from the UK are identified by an eight-digit commodity code. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff. Beef falls within commodity code chapter headings 0201 and 0202. The full commodity code would depend on the specific compounds of the beef.  There could be additional commodity codes that have not been included, that could be considered as ‘Beef’ depending upon the requestor’s specific definition. The amount of beef exported from and imported to the UK in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 is in the attached table and can be found on the UK Trade Information website and on Gov.uk.Tabled referred to in answer (xlsx, 20.9KB)

Overseas Trade: Somalia

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government what is the value of UK direct (1) imports, and (2) exports, to Somalia.

Baroness Penn: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website. From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria. The value of UK imports and exports, where Somalia has been declared as the country of dispatch (for UK imports) or country of destination (for UK exports) is as followsTable 1: UK Trade values (£) with Somalia, January - November 2022ImportsExportsAll commodities638,92813,153,065Source: HMRC Overseas Trade StatisticsNotes• Data for 2022 is aligned with the most recently published data, e.g. up to and including November 2022• 2022 is an open year and is therefore provisional and is subject to change• Values are defined as statistical value.Further information can be found on the UK Trade Information website.[1] [1] UK Trade Info

Taxation: Reform

Lord Jackson of Peterborough: To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to supporting tax system reforms to facilitate the development of additional care facilities for older people.

Baroness Penn: This Government believes we need to have a social care system that gives every person the dignity and security that they deserve. At the Autumn statement, the Government made available a further £2.8 billion in 2023-2024 and £4.7 billion in 2024-2025 to support adult social care and get people out of hospital on time and into appropriate care settings. The Government is committed to a fair tax system in which those with the most contribute the most. The Government will keep all aspects of the tax system under review, and any decisions on future changes will be taken by the Chancellor in the context of the wider public finances